On one hand, this post is partly a continuation of my earlier post.
On the other hand, it was prompted by the recent collapsed our Finance
Minister Heng Swee Keat during a cabinet meeting when
he was hit by stroke. There are also other triggering points as well as listed below.

Few weeks ago, I was deeply saddened by the decease of my
ex-corporate boss Mr. M from Europe. I was told he passed away after
taking a rest from his jogging. He was age 65. In my entire corporate career,
he was the corporate boss who commanded the most respect from me.

Mr. M brought with him lifetime of experiences working in many
different places in America and Europe. He is extremely knowledgeable and
experienced, and it is not just in the work, but extended to many aspects of
lives. Mr. M is extremely righteous and always holds high integrity and ethnics
without failing to take care of his subordinates, me included.

In another incident, a friend of mine in his mid-30s went into
coma diagnosed to be caused by brain stroke. Yes, 30s of age with stroke!!! His wife
and a little daughter are by his side. God bless, he is awake now, albiet still
bedridden and unable to talk.

Breach you limits in work, you go down! "So what if you
excel in work?"

Minister Heng SK, only just took over
one of the toughest ministerial jobs (Finance Minister) last October
and now he is nursing in ICU at an age of just 53. Not that old
really.

Singapore PM Lee HL was diagnosed to have
lymphoma cancer in 1992 (age ~40 then). Last year he was
diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent surgery. Another
minister Khaw Boon Wan also underwent artery bypass in
2010.

If a person having responsible, hardworking and
“difficult to let go” personalities, when faces with
huge burdens on the shoulders, will almost coherently overwork
until he/she is eventually undermined by illness. I was also a victim of
severe sickness due to overwork in the past.

Take things too hard, you go down! "So what if you are
Steve Jobs or already financially freed?"

Steve Jobs died of cancer at a relatively young
age of 56. Singapore Dennis Ng, who claimed to already achieve financial
freedom and was a high-profile financial management expert died of heart
attack during a seminar at an even younger age of 43.

What do these two persons have in common? Overheating
passion in the things they do. This is good!

What is not so good isboth
Jobs and Ng were also known to be having extremely high self-esteem, easily
irritated and gets impatient easily when people disagree and refuse to listen
or learn from them. In other words, they really take things too hard.

Perhaps the mojo is in the “Right Temperament Deep Down”!

"Deep down", meaning not just appear to have good
temperament but truthfully with open mind and open heart! People who appear to
have good temperament on the outside (just that they don't say out) but often
think otherwise and keeping everything to themselves will inevitably fall into
the trap of "taking things too hard!" as well.

Look at the many successful investors who can control their
temperament well and yet outspoken are still very active in the investment
world even at a very old age. This is also explicitly explained in my Part 1
post.

As I mentioned earlier, myex-corporate
bosspassed away during
jogging. The exact reason of his death was unknown to me. However I was
previously told that he always enjoyed jogging long distance. He also had a
competitive nature, always determined and always pushed for perfection.
Maybe he pushed too hard!

By the way, he passed away after retiring about a year! I heard it
was somewhat a retirement that was enforced rather than voluntary. This
will mean that he did not really already plan what he wanted to do way prior to
his retirement! Could this be one reason that can possibly make him less
engaged in life and being weakened spiritually?

Kishore Mahbubani, age 67 a former diplomat
and currently Dean of Lee Kuan Yew school enjoys jogging as a way of
relaxing his mind. He jogs regularly for 8 km and had severe chest pains
at least three times this year. In believing that determination could overcome
pain, he kept on running. Eventually he went through bypass surgery last
month because his arteries are blocked.

Minister Khaw Boon Wan in 2010initiallydenied
that he had heart problem. In an interview after his heart bypassed surgery, he
said the following:

“I felt that I was in top physical form,” wrote MrKhaw.“To
prove it, I actually intensified my exercise routines. I used to run on (the)
treadmill three times a week; I increased it to five. Each time, I ran at my
usual pace of 8km per hour for half an hour.”

My cousin and my cousin-in-law with age in their
late thirties and early forties were fanatics of Marathon running one to
two years ago. They always post pictures of them in Facebook running and
running, training and training. Finally my cousin-in-law collapsed and was
in critical condition needing immediate admission into hospital in the midst of
a race. Since then, I have never see any posts of them running
again!

Last year, Canadian Broker
firm Canaccord Genuity’s CEO Paul Reynolds
died after Falling ill during Triathlon at age 52. In 2009,
Singaporean CEO of Deutsche Telekom Asia, Mr Calvin Lee Wee
Sing, 42, died while competing in a Singapore International
Triathlon event.

When I was an NSF, my friend's father passed away in his 40s
during a badminton match due to heart arrest. I was told my friend’s dad is
always very health conscious and exercise regularly. Another friend of
mine also saw his father, a regular shutter, hit by stroke during a badminton
match. I was told by my friend that his father, despite the old age always have
the "Ai Yan Ma Su" (Hokkien translation: want to win) attitude. So
what if he won the match but almost lost his life!

Even Liew Mun Leong, former CEO of
CapitaLand a figure widely respected, still wake up every morning at 6am and jog 5-6 km each day, as
mentioned by his speech last year at NUS. My own blood brother holding
very senior position in corporate, always brag about how he can
run long distance and exercise intensively for an hour or so,
and how he can push himself to the limit.

Forget that Ego for a second!

So if you think that the harder you work,
the harder you need to run to relieve your stress, better think again!

Honesty, why do you have to put your body to intense
strain when you are doing something that is supposedly relaxing and enjoying.
And straining it "Everyday some more?"

These are the so-called very successful and rich people in
life, definitely not young and with abundance of life and work experiences.

So what are they trying to prove? Is this really wisdom in
life?

There is this thing calls "Man Ego"!

No matter how old you are or who you are,
or how wise you think you are, or how young you are already achieve financial
freedom etc, when Man Ego is compromised, sometimes you will get blinded and
cannot really see the "real" light in life.

It's all about feeling good and having fun!

My health deficiency, a blessing instead

I inherited health deficiency since birth (I only know
it in later years), and therefore I never have good stamina and never
fancy long distance running as a boy until today. Looking back,
it is definitely a blessing in disguise! For otherwise given my strong “always
want to win” character in the past, I will definitely push myself to the
limits. For e.g it can be during a run which I will then likely to collapse and
never recover again!

Jogging and Swimming

Today, I go jogging or swimming often but it is
really primarily to feel good and then to enjoy the greenery of the
park or to indulge in the pool to ward off the
heat. Most important of all, I enjoy my jogging or
swimming together with my children. It strengthens our relationships
and make us happy!

Muscular training

At age 18-19, I started muscular exercise to “beef” up
due to my skinny physique. I neither have “washboard” six packs nor very defined
muscles now. Nonetheless going to gym for muscular exercise back
then is one of the best choices I made in my life. It is a hobby that has
sticks with me for almost twenty years now. It not just makes me feels
good both physically and mentally, it also makes me happy.

Please do not be mistaken muscular training for always dumbbell weights
training. We can use our own body weight as well. For e.g. push-ups, pull-ups,
sit-ups, squats, lunge, planks etc. The mix of gym and personal body weight
exercises give me more variety and very importantly a lot more "fun"
during the exercise.

Remember that it is more fun and NOT more
pain! J

Pushing your muscles to the limit is a much safer bet,
than pushing your heart to the limit!

For many years now, I had seldom or never pushed
myself very hard during my muscular training. In recent
times, it is always limited to 20 to 45 minutes duration. Frankly,
even if I did stress my muscles during workout, I do feel it is perfectly
ok for myself as long as there is no prolong “stressing” and there are sufficient
rest in between sets and between days. For instance, antagonizing our
muscle group within 1 minute maximum, intensively, then stop,
and rest for two minutes and repeat for a couple of sets.

Here you will learn more about “burst
training made popular by Dr Pompa!”. This is an excellent piece
of advice. Burst exercise according to Dr Pompa also anti-age. In the same
post, I also mentioned about meditating which is an excellent way to relieve
myself spiritually and surprising my illness just go away after that
miraculously.

Burst exercise for anti-aging is not vanity as many
mistaken! Afterall, there is nothing wrong with vanity!

Apparently, whether you are healthy or not,
sometimes it is all written on your face if you look radiant or not? So if you
think you are really healthy because you eat healthy and exercise a lot, think
again! Instead, go take a look of yourself NOW in the mirror if you are really telling
the truth? :-)

By the way, I hear lesser bodybuilders collapse or die
during muscular training compare toathletes
who push themselves to the limit for a prolonged period of time. Arnold Schwarzenegger actually has
an inherent heart problem since birth and underwent heart surgery. He still “pumps
iron” today and looks good at age 68. Likewise, Sylvester
Stallone who is one year older still looks radiant.

Given a choice, I will definitely prefer to
stress my muscles for less than one minute each time, rather than to stress my
heart for hours! Often times you can be rich and successful but it does
not mean you have the wisdom in taking care of yourself. Very often “Man Ego”
can be the cause of many health related problems!

Why Lee
Kuan Yew is different?

Well, I also wanted to highlight that I cannot remember when did
I ever read that our founding father Lee Kuan Yew fallen sick
during his tenure as our country leader. Perhaps the job of leader is
almost like his destiny! Nothing and nobody subjected him to do so!

Moreover LKY had hobbies of golfing, swimming
and in his memoir understood that he also have many friends all over the world.
This strengthened him spiritually. He also always had an intriguing mind to
learn. This strengthened him mentally. I have also not read him saying he will
run long distance and push himself to the limit physically to achieve success
(or ego?). LKY also wisely chose to step back early and hand the baton to Goh
Chok Tong, while he can easily rule Singapore for another decade or so.

Above all, LKY smartest move is to choose an incredibly capable
and remarkably wise wife for him to share his burden. One burden, two people
share….so it is effectively ½ the load!

This is true wisdom!

Rolf’s
final thoughts

Ultimately
I reckon that physical and spiritual exercise must go hand in hand together
with a balance lifestyle and reasonably healthy diet with
pleasure. In fact healthy diet is not just only eating healthy like fresh
organic etc. I will touch on diet possibly on Part 3 later.

You may have thought where do I get all these “cock and bull” contrarian
theory from? Lest not forget, I am not very old (like 60s?), and furthermore
not very rich and not very successful.

Hmmm … I can only attribute it partly to my somewhat
humble and roller coaster life experiences in relationships, health and work. Maybe
also my understanding of myself well and essentially I am thankful for the
exposures I received over my career travelling to many parts of the world and
having the honour of working with people of different races, countries and
across different society classes.

Last but not least, I reckon that I have one
very strong trait or motto in life which has so far help me to enlighten in my
life more quickly. See below:

These r different category. Of course death cause by instant virus attack or accidental which most times are inevitable. But look at the percentage compare to death cause by illness.

What I aforesaid was in fact said n concur by my ex entrepreneur boss in his 60s who seen so much in life, travelled widely, was already pronounced dead by doctor with heart problem (later survived not seeing doctor), go thru near bankruptcy 3 times with him as sole bread winner and was a man who use to have high ego and self esteem. Eventually he got into enlightenment and his entire life changed!

Today, he truly work to help only. Unlike human nature septics who think it's always for money or self interest! :-)

Ten years past in his 60s, he is much more stronger and more energetic TODAY than 10 yrs ago when I use to work with him. I swear it's true and nothing but true!

While another boss of mine after retiring and still thinking of money and thinking of do one more successful business in his lifetime is complaining age is catching up... Bla Bla Bla.

Therefore I tend not to agree with u with not just these two cases but many I had seen in other people also.

Me and him were discussing one day about the character illness and we both agreed that the more successful a man is, or if he think he is, the more difficult to convince that man to change. And almost not possible and better to leave it to them to realise it later thru their experience!

Imagine I know Kishore and have tell him earlier that the way he push himself in jogging is not good. Will he listen to me? of course not, bcos he is always right in his own way! He will say "who r u small fry with so little experience in life to advise me on that." Even if my ex-boss told him, he will also not listen.

I myself had seen the same happening within my peer.

Good thing for me is today I will not be hinder by my male ego anymore if it makes sense.

And what I am saying in the above article is truly from the bottom of my heart from things my ex boss and me truly can see. Whether it helps now or later, it does not matter, but at least what I am sharing now is Non Mihi Solum and that is sufficient to make me very happy!

Hope one day this article will be useful to u or at least make u realise at least Rolf had said that before. But not now, not to worry!

My ex boss also collapsed and died of stroke at age of 42 during their weekly management meeting. He overworked. His death was wake up call to those around him. Co-incidentally two of those directors in that meeting retired before 60 few years later. Seeing with their own eyes on colleague dropping dead in front of them might be scary and lasting.

Your comment made me very worried for Singapore today. I think in the coming general elections, our PM Lee will be getting lots of requests for early retirement from our Ministers. It is selfish of me to think this way but ... I think the least some of the more critical Singaporeans can do is to show more respect to our Ministers next time when they make comments online.

I wish Mr Heng Swee Keat a speedy and full recovery so that he can at least have the good health to enjoy life. Good men should have a good ending.

I do not believe life are mostly destined or fated. I believe 人定胜天 as long as we are willing to take steps to initiate the change, and first the change has to start with "us"!

Dreams are important, but I am seeing in Sg we are lacking it.

Even as I am born not physically as strong and thin, the later years still can make the difference! Maybe Nick Vujicic can have a more convincing speech on this thing called "destined and fated!"

But I do agree that if we have a peaceful mind, while we are pursuing our dreams, then our live can be more meaningful.

Most important thing I kind of realise in life to be able to enlighten is we should never work just for ourselves only! If in our lifetime we can help many many people around us to lead better life, then I am sure we can conquer a lot!

Of course, this philosophy applies to me and it does not mean it is workable for others! :-)

My late FIL was heavy smoker and drinker. Eat unhealthy oil and salty food and yet die at age of 93. He ran a small shop selling mainly Chinese wedding related stuff, daily household items and Big Sweep tickets. His stress level is pretty slow. Smoke and drink while waiting for customers to buy then come and buy. :-)

Stress at work is the potential source of many illnesses. Headache, heartache, tua tulan then pressure and temperature rising higher

Wow ur FIL is good. I am partially saying yes because my auntie is late 80s, smoking since 12 till today. Always sleep late and does not eat so healthy! Still very active and can go traveling in Taiwan alone!

The difference is unlike ur FIL, her stress level is very high.

Her husband (my uncle) kena stroke and was wheel chaired for like 15-20 yrs and was so bad tempered. She have to tahan him and clean him for so many years!

She had to work as a cleaners for multiple offices. Her children (my cousin) are all not married eldest being early 60s. All have very low income and some even up to 50s still depend on my auntie. My smaller uncle also faced with loan shark problem in earlier years when my auntie got to settle for him using all her savings!

My auntie had two adopted kids because others does not want to raise them in the 50s and 60s. but being kind hearted, she does not mind to help. Her adopted kids did well in life and love her a lot.

To me, my auntie is a superwoman!

So in this aspect despite my auntie life so tough, and so stressful, she always approached life positively! Today her adopted kids and me and my siblings doted my auntie like how she doted my father when my father still alive.

The only reason I can think of my auntie's longer ivory is her positive approach in life and how she unselfishly help people around her, despite her own problems. she is always happy! I love her also!

So maybe sometimes in life, we cannot everyday only think about ourself only. Guess I am sad that people are getting more and more selfish as time advances.

Everything in moderation 就好. In my previous job, always piah-piah-piah and OT. "Good pay" but common to have gastric-related issues and chest tightness : obvious signs that all is not right.

After a job change, all the ailments are gone! Miracle! Oh well, apart from feeling sleepy all the time LOL. I think my current job is not challenging enough. As I said, everything in moderation, always. Either end of the spectrum isn't good.

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